England must keep their eye on the ball

Then Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick collected eight wickets apiece - supported by some brilliant catching.

But while England did just about everything right at Lord's, Pakistan - under-prepared and illadvised - failed to pose more than a fraction of their potential threat.

Old Trafford, one suspects, will be a different story.

For a start, Pakistan have just trounced Leicestershire in two days to lift spirits in the camp.

Secondly, they will not repeat their London mistake of leaving out both spinners, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed.

And, thirdly, if Wasim Akram does not swing the ball at Old Traf-ford - the ground which he regards as home after 10 years as a Lancashire player - then he'll never swing it anywhere again.

Wasim admitted: "We want to put up a lot better fight here than we did at Lord's - and I believe we will."

Mike Atherton shared the stage with Stewart when England played West Indies at Old Trafford last summer. The hosts' two senior batsmen collected their 100th Test caps before the start of a match that ended as a draw.

This time, there is speculation that Atherton could be playing his last Test on his home ground.

Retirement at the end of the summer has not been ruled out or ruled in.

Either way, Wasim can bank on an equal share of support from England fans - and total adulation from Pakistan's followers.

"This is my last Test in this country and I want to make it memorable," said the all-rounder who will be 35 on Sunday. The Lancashire faithful would happily settle for big performances from both Atherton and Wasim this week . . . and ultimately an England win to top their cake with icing.

Despite his past experience in the job, Hussain's absence puts an extra strain on Stewart.

But he kept wicket faultlessly at Lord's after batting with typical panache and still managed to lead the side efficiently enough, and to victory, while the 'proper' captain looked on from the dressing room.

This time, England could add spin to their armoury in the form of Robert Croft, but nothing is likely to dissuade them from playing seven specialist batsmen.

That means that Nick Knight will win his first cap for nearly a year - and give left-handers a 4-3 majority among the side's primary rungetters.

Rain has restricted Old Trafford to just one day's cricket this season, so tomorrow's pitch is the real mystery factor in the whole plot.

Groundsman Peter Marron admitted: "I'm a lot easier with it now than I was a fortnight ago."

THE TEAMS

ENGLAND (from): M Atherton, M Trescothick, M Vaughan, G Thorpe, A Stewart (capt, wkt), I Ward, N Knight, D Cork, R Croft, A Caddick, D Gough, M Hoggard.
PAKISTAN (from): Saeed Anwar, Salim Elahi, Abdur Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Rashid Latif (wkt), Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis (capt), Shoaib Akhtar, Mushtaq Ahmed.
Umpires E Nicholls (WI), D Shepherd (Eng).
TV Replays: R Julian (Eng).
Referee: B Hastings (NZ).
FIRST TEST (Lord's) - England won by an innings and nine runs.